Question: In the recent past, a person was judged by his status, by his clothes, by his education, by how much money he had, whether he was a professor or not. How will people be judged in the new post-viral world? There is a lot of speculation. What do you think?

Answer: I think people will be different as a result of the coronavirus. They will learn to see through matter and not pay attention to what a person is wearing, what kind of pen sticks out in his pocket, or what watch he is wearing. They won’t even look at the fact that he might be a big professor or something. They will look at what use he has as a person, what he can give that society needs.

A person benefits society by explaining to it how it is possible to make further progress in connection. And then it will be really clear what benefits he brings.

He will see that otherwise we will not live, otherwise we will not pull out, and otherwise we will not be able to survive. This should be clear. And the person who shows this demonstrates to the whole society that it needs him. And, in accordance with this, society will appreciate him.

People who really have such a special quality to gather a society and bring its members closer to each other should be visible so that others can listen to them.

Question: Will others be jealous of them?

Answer: They will learn and will be envious. Envy is a very good thing. It is clear that this is not black envy. Because it comes from noble deeds, from bringing people closer together, when they want to learn and be like such people.

Question: So you have an optimistic view of the future of people? Their connection will be valued.

Answer: I think we will suffer great losses, diseases, and deaths. There will be a lot of problems, but humanity will adapt quickly. Now I have such hope. Subconsciously, the process is already underway. There will be no return. And it will be very bad if we start returning forcefully.

Question: You say that we should slowly distinguish people who work for society, for connection. And it will work in a person? If we start talking about givers all the time, will it work?

Answer: Humanity will no longer have any insignia. And this will inevitably remain. When society talks about it, it will affect all individuals.

Everyone will point out only those people who are engaged in consolidating society, developing it, and attracting more and more new people to unite. And that’s how we will go forward.

I think that humanity will go a good way, not through destruction and war.

The person giving, the person uniting, the person explaining, the person leading, pushing will be appreciated. And in the end, we will quickly find ourselves in the right world.

Question: Pushing exclusively to unity?

Answer: Only to unity! Nothing more is needed. The Creator, the upper force, the one force of nature, cannot be dressed in something limited, concrete. It must have an absolute substrate under it and be revealed in it.

Question: Is the absolute substrate a single humanity?

Answer: Yes. One soul.
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From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 7/13/20

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My new article on Linkedin “The End of The Ego Era And The Decline Of The Ego Kingdom”

The United States is a unique country. Its people immigrated there with the sole purpose of building a good life for themselves and to escape from the bad lives they’d had in their homelands. In many ways, its pioneers were escapees. They came from England, the Netherlands, and Germany, and built a country that idolized such values as “To each his own” and “What’s mine is mine and what’s yours is yours.”

The virus told us that our exploitative civilization, where people are alienated from each other, cannot go on, that we must change how we relate to one another and to nature, and that the predominance of the ego must end. Naturally, the country most influenced by egoism suffered the worst blow: The United States of America.

And America succeeded. While other countries were chained by religion, tradition, manners, and culture, Americans were free to build their own lives for themselves, and they did it with vigor. They made religion one’s personal business with which the state must not interfere, sanctified private property more than the sanctity of life, and the country kept growing as more people from more nationalities and cultures kept pouring in.

Eventually, even slavery was abolished, ethnic diversity peaked, and America thrived. It seemed as though hard work would grant each person a house in the suburbs, a car in the driveway, and a picket fence around the lawn, or simply, the realization of the American Dream.

But something’s changed in the last few decades. The wage gaps grew, prices rose, and tuition fees spiked. Gradually, the Land of Opportunity became a land of disappointment, frustration, and despair. The ego, which the Bill of Rights crowned as the ruler in America, is failing to keep its promise of lush and easy living. Now, in the third decade of the third millennium, life in America has become hard, harsh, and hopeless.

But it’s not because Americans did anything wrong. For a long time, the American way has been the way to go. For a long time, America was proof that diverse ethnicities and cultures could live side by side (more or less) peacefully. The diversity of American society was a testament to the American motto of unlimited possibilities, and gave it strength and flexibility that no other country had.

But the ego isn’t passive. It is a monster that keeps growing and unless you tame it, it will rise against its owner. This is one part of America’s woes. The unbridled ego made inequality grow to such levels that while some people cannot feed their children, others have more billions of dollars than they can count. Such a society is unsustainable.

The other part of America’s woes is nature itself. It has become intolerant to egoism. If, until recently, you could get away with polluting as much as you want, mining and drilling as much as you could, and extinguishing species left and right, this year, nature has stopped humanity’s celebration through a tiny servant with a big name: SARS-CoV-2, aka. Covid-19.

The coronavirus stopped civilization in its tracks and showed us for just a few weeks of quarantine how beautiful the world could be if we only stopped destroying it. Moreover, the virus told us where to start, by watching out for each other’s health through wearing masks and staying six feet apart.

The virus told us that our exploitative civilization, where people are alienated from each other, cannot go on, that we must change how we relate to one another and to nature, and that the predominance of the ego must end. Naturally, the country most influenced by egoism suffered the worst blow: The United States of America.

All the countries suffer, and all the countries will continue to suffer from the economic, social, physical, and emotional blows wrought by Covid-19. But America, whose population is the most diverse, and whose culture is the most individualistic, will suffer the most.

We are witnessing the onset of a new era, where people learn to cooperate and think of one another, where care and consideration take the helm, and self-absorption and entitlement become contemptible. Naturally, the country that led the world in self-indulgence will be the last when the new era sets in.

But all hope is not lost. America is a land of pioneers, brazen people who dared the unknown and beat the odds. It will need to reinvent itself, restructure its society, and reeducate its people, but if any country can do it, it is America.

At the moment, the U.S. is undergoing civil disintegration that could become a civil war. But if there is a will, there is a way. If the American people want to save their country, they must pull together and change their society into a cohesive, mutually accountable entity that serves as an example of the right way to live in an era of mutual dependence. The only question is whether Americans have the will.

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My new article on BIZCATALYST “Faith and Belief in Times of Crisis”

hen things go wrong, people look heavenward for answers and comfort. Since ancient times people have looked for something to hold onto in moments of crisis and distress, so it is only natural that this pandemic has triggered a search for an upper force, as studies confirm. This outcry will accelerate our discovery of the meaning of life and help us internalize an answer that will be found in the power of love between us.

A quarter of Americans say COVID-19 has strengthened their religious faith, while just 2% claim it has weakened it, according to a Pew Research Center survey. Other studies confirm a direct link between natural disasters and moments of crisis and an increased tendency to turn to a higher power. The number of Google searches for the word “prayer” in 75 countries has nearly doubled since the beginning of the coronavirus crisis.

People need to feel that they have an anchor, that there is something to trust or hold on to.

Like a child grabs its mother and does not let go because she is perceived as the safest place, we too, grownups as we are, need a source of security. In the world around us, we find no such source.

Humanity once turned toward the inanimate forces of nature such as the sun and moon as ruling powers. Today, with nowhere left to turn and nothing left to believe in, only a higher power remains. But exactly who or what this is, we are not sure. There are endless discussions, hypotheses, perceptions, and beliefs surrounding these questions. After all, our hearts yearn for certainty that something is managing and arranging everything in life.

At the end of the day, we may ask whether the exact nature of a supreme power matters, as long as its very existence helps us feel safer in our short lives in this world. As long as our faith calms the weary psyche, we choose to cling to it.

And when one person feels better, it is good for those around him because calm people are kinder to one another. They are less willing to quarrel or hurt others. Although specifics and customs around belief may differ, each of the eight billion people in the world believes in something, and this faith is accepted as normal by almost every person.

This notion of faith is also related to the concept of prayer. Since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, people’s beliefs have brought them together in common prayers that have been broadcast live to masses on social media. The consequences of collective prayers are also positive because when people believe that they can access a powerful force by uniting in a common plea, they do it through the process of connecting together and asking as one. And if there is some trouble in our lives, this trouble binds us to each other. When we are more unified, our unity certainly draws a response.

When we overcome the distance between us and express willingness to gather to unite in a common request, transcend above the individual ego—the single factor that keeps us apart—we thereby improve everyone’s fate.

As long as we ask for everyone’s sake, and not for the detriment of anyone, our prayer is accepted. In the end, it does not matter at all why we believe, to whom we turn, the specific religion or method we practice, or even in what language we pray. What matters is our common desire and request.

As a result of the pandemic, we have reached a new stage in our development, which will propel us to a new degree of life, a new worldview of humanity as one family. The problems we face are pushing us forward. They are helping us discover that the supreme power is one and is for all and that it can be accessed through the connection between us. Humanity is discovering the power of love that is revealed in our unity.
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My new article on Linkedin “On Borrowed Time”

A few hours after the results come in, the winner of the 2020 presidential election will come on stage, thank his supporters, thank his rival for a tough race, and promise that he will be everyone’s president, not just of those who elected him. But when a country is so deeply divided between them and us, it is doubtful any president can patch up America.

I realize that an election year is always tense, but the convergence of the elections, the Covid-19 pandemic, natural disasters, escalating racial tensions and distrust between law enforcement and citizens, have created a perfect storm that puts America at risk of collapse. I believe that the country is on borrowed time, and it is running out fast.

To make America one again, you need more than words, you need a common goal. When people of differing views share a common goal their different viewpoints contribute to the attainment of the goal, since they can cover more angles, look at things from different perspectives, and reflect problems that the other party did not think of before they materialize. But when each party sees the country as its own possession and cares about making its own constituency happy in order to be reelected, you’re bound to deepen the chasm and exacerbate the anger.

Currently, America is en route to mayhem. There is complete distrust between Democrats and Republicans, Conservatives and Progressives. The trust was already broken four years ago, but this year it has become overt enmity and hatred. I’m all for frankness, but when you take pride in your derision of another and do not intend to mend it, you are sowing wind, and you will reap the storm.

I realize that an election year is always tense, but the convergence of the elections, the Covid-19 pandemic, natural disasters, escalating racial tensions and distrust between law enforcement and citizens, have created a perfect storm that puts America at risk of collapse. I believe that the country is on borrowed time, and it is running out fast.

The only way out of the plight is to put the benefit of the overall American society first, and with that approach see how to assist each segment of the country. No segment will thrive if not all of them thrive. But if the American people can rise above centuries of division and come to feel as one nation, they will become a beacon of hope for humanity. If not, the world will watch as America falls.

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Question: When people in China came out of lockdown from their rooms and apartments and seemingly were freed a little from the virus, a huge Hermes store opened there. They brought beautiful handbags covered with diamonds, a lot of leather goods, and people started buying. In one day, it made about $2.7 million.

You are saying that person’s way of thinking will change, they will start thinking differently, but a person does not seem to change much. How will this happen?

Answer: A person does not change, but I think that the virus is aimed at preventing us from making money from unnecessary actions. The virus is a consequence of our egoistic attitude to nature, and it will force us to do only what is necessary and sufficient. No more than that. Let’s wait and see.

I do not think there will be a complete return to the past. We have entered such a state with nature where it can no longer tolerate us. Look how the fish jump out of the water. Animals come and seek freedom.

This shows us to what extent we are an alien organism in nature, how we cannot, simply cannot, be an integral element of nature.

Comment: Of course, we took the places where animals once were.

My Response: If we were doing the right thing, nature would not feel this. The wolves would not rush into our parks again, the fish would not jump out of the water for joy that we are not there. I can hear the birds chirping! Everything is different! The air is so much better.

Question: Do you think that civilization, humanity, can harmoniously enter nature?

Answer: Of course. If only this were civilization and not barbarism! Today’s civilization are barbarians! The way it was a thousand, two thousand years ago. Therefore, we need to understand that we cannot continue in this way.

I am sure the virus will not leave us and more new modifications will come. I am sure it will be migrating in its different variations to many parts of the world. I am sure that against the background of suffering from the virus, against the background of fear, there will even be some kind of wars, changes in relations between countries. Especially for America and China I think there will be problems. This is on one hand. On the other hand, these problems will force the world to change.

Comment: Even Bill Gates agrees with you on many things. He says that this will continue for twenty years or more, the virus will not go away. He believes that we should be prepared for this. He has such a mindset. Only the conclusions are different. He says, “We must prepare for this.” That is, prepare injections, doctors. He has no conclusion considering, now let’s try to understand why the virus came.

Your conclusion is that we must change. Why does humanity not come to it?

My Response: It does not see a direct connection between our attitude to each other, to the world around us, to nature and viruses. It does not understand that the virus is a natural particle that we have forced to begin spreading and putting us in order.

Yet, it will change us. Through a long way, through suffering, we will still arrive at the result that we should reach, although we could have come to it through awareness. This is how it will be.

Question: How long will this last?

Answer: Until a person is completely corrected, when one becomes an absolutely clear and correct integral part of all nature, in spite of the huge egoism that exists in him.

Now we have the opportunity to return to nature in a correct way, at least partially. Do not switch on any manufacturing plants that we use to destroy the environment. Leave many people not engaged in unnecessary production that litters everything and produces unnecessary things, but engaged in studying and creating the right relationships among themselves.

This is a great positive force that nature lacks, which must come from a person. At the level of the animalistic world, it occurs by itself: animals act in the way nature dictates. A person, however, must be brought to the right interaction.

Then we will see the person’s impact on the surrounding nature. The Torah says that a little child will lead both wolves and sheep, and they will be friendly with each other. This means that people will participate in nature in such a correct way that the evil force will disappear altogether! The evil force in nature will disappear. In everything!

Today we have no idea what the world around us means. Now wolves appear, fish jump out of the water for the joy that there are no people. We left them for a month, hid in our “dens,” and they are so happy that we moved away from them.

Do you understand what we are doing with nature?! How much it hates us, cannot stand us! When you look at this, you are simply amazed, “Am I really so harmful, so evil?!”  Yes. “Do I really affect this environment so badly?!” I hope the virus will help us.
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From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 4/20/20

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Virus—Man’s Friend

Question: Viruses are by far the most dangerous enemy of man today. The greatest threat to us once were large predators, but today, man himself has become a terrible predator. However, he is powerless against tiny viruses consisting of a DNA molecule, RNA in a protein coat, which behave like intelligent beings. Why is medicine unable to deal with them?

Answer: I believe that viruses are man’s friends. Moreover, viruses are friends of society. They strike in order to force us to change both people and society.

Therefore, we should look upon the virus not as an enemy but as a helper, even if not very pleasant and even threatening. But if we would seriously study what a virus is leading us to and aimed to it, we would not let it manifest itself in us as a disease. We would simply run ahead of the virus toward the changes it is supposed to bring about in our society.

Question: There are millions of different viruses. Some of them are truly man’s friends. They benefit our body. But at some point, these viruses can do harm. What does it depend on?

Answer: It depends on a person. If a person does not seriously change himself, then nature reminds us by the appearance of various problems.

See what we are doing with the world around us! During the two months that we did not work, nature started to come back to life, animals began to appear in parks, the concentration of ozone in the air increased, everything began to shine and sparkle! Now you want it all to go away?

Question: Do you think that our egoistic attitude toward each other causes the problems?

Answer: Not only our attitude toward each other but also the industrial attitude toward the world. With our consumer approach to the vegetative and animate nature, we excite certain forces in it, and it begins to balance us through the manifestation of various breakdowns; in this case, through a virus.
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From KabTV’s “The Post-Coronavirus Era” 5/14/20

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Mutual guarantee is the general law of the correct connection of all creation, and therefore, by fulfilling it, we will correct all problems.

If we will take care of the mutual guarantee between us, we will affect all particles of matter on the physical and chemical levels, which will connect correctly as well. By doing this we will neutralize all microbes, stop all epidemics, and disarm all our enemies, from people to small insects.

The mutual guarantee will protect us from everything: from harmful radiation, from extreme heat and cold. The Earth is ready to explode from climate changes, but we can calm all nature by tying all its parts with mutual guarantee. It all depends only on how we implement this law ourselves.

The law of mutual guarantee is the perfect formula for connecting all parts of nature, on all levels: inanimate, vegetative, animate, and human. We have nothing else to worry about.

We will not have to go deep into the study of all the subtleties of nature, its ecological, zoological, biological, and physical laws. There is no need to descend to the quantum level because from our human level we influence all the lower layers of nature.

Besides, we influence the higher nature from our level. We are between two worlds: the higher world and the lower world. If we reach mutual guarantee, we begin to live in both worlds.

The entire universe is one system. Therefore, by our attitude, we influence all of nature. Through our attitude, we can blow up stars, evoke wars, and establish peace. It all depends only on our attitude to the unity between us. If we want the world to feel good, we need to establish good relationships between us. The closer we get to each other, the better the world will become.

The world is not at fault, it acts according to the laws instituted into it by the Creator. But we can bring these laws to the correct connection by inserting our resistance between plus and minus: restriction, screen, and reflected light. Then there will be no confrontation and short-circuit between the positive and negative poles, between the right and left, between all conflicting sides. After all, we will put a buffer between them, the correct adapter.

Everything depends on us; only we can connect all pluses and minuses on all levels for peace to prevail in the world. That is why, first of all, we have to achieve mutual guarantee with the intention to help the whole world and thereby bring contentment to the Creator.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/21/20, Writings of Baal HaSulam, “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”

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We are inside the law of mutual guarantee and moving forward in accordance with it. Our whole life depends on the fulfillment of this law whether we want it or not, whether we understand it or not. All of humanity is moving in the direction of mutual guarantee.

Even if you look back only three months ago, an insignificant period in comparison with human life, you will see how our ideas about our development, about the present and future have changed. We have made a huge leap forward.

Until three months ago, we thought that the coronavirus pandemic would end quickly and allow us to return to our previous lives. But no one thinks that way today.

Look what a revolution is taking place in all of humanity, in billions of people, and how their attitude to life is changing. They begin to realize that they are in some kind of a mandatory process from which they cannot be freed. They are not in charge of their lives but life controls them and pulls them and not toward the goal they have set for themselves.

Life will not be the same again. We are in a process where in a very short time we can see dramatic changes between the past, present, and future. It turns out that everyone has made very important discoveries about their lives: they realized that today will not be like yesterday, and tomorrow will not be like today. Thus, nature, the Creator, raises us to another level of perception of reality.

We are becoming partners with the Creator, participating with Him in the same process, although only passively for the time being. Nature makes changes, and we are in this process watching it as it unfolds before us.

We already see that we do not control the world, and we cannot change it. Even if the future appears black, we still understand that there is no choice and that what should happen will happen. And then the question arises: is it possible to change something?

We are more and more ready to accept the conditions the Creator sets for us if we want to change the future. We may still be passive, but we are already participants in the process unfolding in front of us. This is noticeable in the media, in people, and in families throughout our lives, and this is a huge achievement.

Everyone gradually bows their head and is no longer as confident and sure of himself as before. We understand that we are inside a flow that is designated by nature. Nature has established for us the law of mutual guarantee and it will become clearer every day that only through the right connection can we organize our lives and that only the lack of a good connection between us is the cause of all our misfortunes.

All this will soon become clear to everyone and we will understand that the law of mutual guarantee is binding and there is no choice but to follow it. It is better if we strive for it ourselves, hasten time, and bring it closer and closer in order to fulfill it before it overtakes us and compels us to fulfill it by force. We want to fulfill it voluntarily, at our own will.

Day by day, humanity is moving closer to mutual guarantee, opening its eyes more and more.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/25/20, Writings of Baal HaSulam, “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”

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The coronavirus cannot be stopped by masks, by sitting at home and closing down schools. A correction has to be performed at the highest degree—in the relationships between people. When we begin to correct ourselves and establish the right connection we will thereby disable the virus. It is written “Love will cover all crimes!”

The coronavirus emerges due to an improper connection between the elements of creation, which have to begin to connect in our time. In places where connections are meant to emerge, according to the program of development toward the end of correction, viruses emerge out of places of breakage, like out of cracks…

One does not build the soul by own’s own desire, the way one erects a building, but rather one waits for the Creator to build it. The right request to Him passes through unity in the ten to the Creator. I only order this construction, but don’t know how the Creator will build it. Especially when we are building the 3rd Temple.
From Twitter, 9/1/20

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Comment: Hundreds of philosophers and scientists wrote that all of humanity is one family, one organism. That is, they somehow felt our commonality.

My Response: Many people still feel this commonality today. You do not have to be a Kabbalist or a scientist for this. It is enough to be a person who is examining the world. He sees that everything in it is interconnected—the inanimate, vegetative, animate, and human levels of nature are one common organism, one common system.

Yet, how does one begin to feel it, how to work with this system in order to feel the force that controls it? Only Kabbalah teaches this.

Abraham, who lived three and a half thousand years ago was the first to feel this commonality. He began to call the manifesting upper forces the Creator.
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From KabTV’s “Systematic Analysis of the Development of the People of Israel” 12/9/19

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